


Piece By Piece

by ScarlettPaige



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Angst, Child Abandonment, Children, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, First time father jitters, Forgiveness, Marriage, New Parent, Song fic, Two Shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 18:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6918160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarlettPaige/pseuds/ScarlettPaige
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A request fic in the form of a song fic set to "Piece by Piece" By Kelly Clarkson.</p><p> Judy and Nick have finally decided to have kits when Nick receives an unexpected phone call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Piece By Piece

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tfbl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfbl/gifts).



> Request: Hey. So I love your stories, and I was wondering if you could write a Wildehopps songfic (a little AUish and set in Nick's POV) set to Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson? To work with the lyrics to Nick's mother would have to have left him, but that's not much of a change, right? or maybe the song reflects Nick's relationship with Stu and/or his and Judy's own daughter? 
> 
> I wrote this for tfbl as a request made. I kind of changed some of the dynamics of the relationships to make this story fit the song and the request. I hope I do it Justice. 
> 
> tfbl, I sincerely hope it turns out the way you wanted it to. :) 
> 
> I am planning on making this a two shot. 
> 
> All mistakes are mine. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

"Piece By Piece"

By Kelly Clarkson 

And all I remember is your back  
Walking towards the airport, leaving us all in your past  
I traveled fifteen hundred miles to see you  
Begged you to want me, but you didn't want to

But piece by piece he collected me  
Up off the ground where you abandoned things, yeah  
Piece by piece he filled the holes  
That you burned in me at six years old  
And you know,  
He never walks away  
He never asks for money,  
He takes care of me  
He loves me  
Piece by piece he restored my faith  
That a man can be kind and a father could... stay

And all of your words fall flat  
I made something of myself and now you wanna come back  
But your love—it isn't free, it has to be earned  
Back then I didn't have anything you needed so I was worthless

But piece by piece he collected me  
Up off the ground, where you abandoned things, yeah  
Piece by piece he filled the holes  
That you burned in me at six years old  
And you know,  
He never walks away  
He never asks for money,  
He takes care of me  
'Cause he loves me  
Piece by piece he restored my faith  
That a man can be kind and a father could stay

Piece by piece [6x]

Piece by piece I fell far from the tree  
I will never leave her like you left me  
And she will never have to wonder her worth  
Because unlike you I'm going to put her first  
And you know,  
He'll never walk away,  
He'll never break her heart  
He'll take care of things,  
He'll love her  
And piece by piece he'll restore my faith  
That a man can be kind and a father should be great

Piece by piece [3x]

 

 

The Call

 

Nick and Judy had been married for three years when they decided that they did want to have kits. First the argument was which kind they got. Would they get a fox or a rabbit? Then the argument moved on to quantity. Should they have more than one? Should they have a few of each or just of a few of the same? Then their answer came in an unexpected way. A rabbit neighbor of Judy and Nick’s, their daughter found herself single and unwantedly pregnant. The young bunny in her early twenties decided she was going to give up her kits for adoption. She approached the Wilde’s in inquiring whether or not they’d be interested in adopting one or some of the kits. 

By this time, the couple had decided on only adopting one kit due to their profession and the fact that they live in a big city in an apartment that didn’t have much spacer to begin with. They agreed to adopt one of the kits of their pregnant neighbor. The young woman decided to find out the gender of the kits and found she would be having several boys and several girls. Nick and Judy decided they wanted one of the girls. 

Nick told Judy that he knew nothing about taking care of kits. He was an only child and didn’t have the experience that she did in taking care of them like she did with her siblings back home in Bunny Burrow. So, he argued that he wanted a girl because Judy could help her better than Nick could a bunny boy especially when it came to the…body changes stage of life. Nick could handle a boy if it were a fox. He’d know exactly how to help the little guy, but a bunny boy...he feared he’d be calling Stu or one of Judy’s brother’s too often. Judy agreed because she’d have similar problems if they decided on adopting a fox kit. Since a little bunny fell into their laps, a girl it was then. 

As the young woman’s pregnancy progressed and Judy and Nick received more and more updates, the more excited and nervous Nick got. He was practically swimming with elation and anxiousness. On a day where he was full with anticipation, he went into the baby stuff section of a store and bought a few toys such as stuff carrots with eyes and pink bows on its stems of greenery and some educational ABC blocks with a farm look to it.

By the time he had gotten back to the house he suddenly felt an uncertainty about being a father and hid the stuff he got in the closet. It didn’t take long after Judy got home from exercising that he just showed her the stuff he got anyway. She laughed at him and told him it was going to be fine and to quit worrying. However, her telling him to quit worrying didn’t make him quit worrying. He still worried about being a good father all the same. 

Nick didn’t really put too much thought into why he was panicking so much until a message he received on his answering machine a few days later. “Hey, Nicholas…this is Curtis…your father. I wanted to know if you’d want to get together sometime.” The message ended with his father giving him a phone number to reach him with. Nick replayed the message several times listening to it intently. At first he was just in shock, then he was angry, then he was sad. And all of the emotions repeated circularly for a good hour. 

Holding the stuffed carrot he bought at the store, Nick was sitting at the table staring down at the phone when Judy got home from the grocery store. When they got home from work, she declared she was going to get it out of the way so they could enjoy the weekend, which meant that they’d be finishing up the nursery. They had been working on it for a few weeks now deciding on color schemes and other themes to decorate and adorn their kit with. Judy set the bag of food down at the table and noticed her husband’s dismal state. “Nick.” She said quietly. “What’s wrong?”

Nick sat back in the chair looking up at his wife. “My dad called, Carrots.” 

“Your dad… called?” she asked.

Nick never talked about his dad. He wasn’t even sure if he ever told Judy his father’s name before. It just never seemed to be important and he never thought about it. His father made his choice and Nick learned to live with it. 

“Yeah, my dad.” Nick said. He played the message for Judy to hear. 

“What do you want, Nick?” They returned to sitting down at the table when she asked Nick this. They had silently and quickly put the food away after she heard the message. Judy was trying to think about how to approach the situation before saying anything. 

“I don’t know what I want, Judy.” He said using her real name. “It’s been years since I’ve seen him. He just took off one day and left us. I never understood why.” Nick set the stuffed carrot on the table and kept his hand on it. He petted it as he continued. “One day he came back year’s later needing financial help. I don’t really know what for. Mom told me to go to my room. I was so upset I just left the house all together and when I got back mom was cooking dinner and acted like my father had never come at all. I let it go too. All I can remember was he didn’t even act like he was happy to see me or mom. He just came for the money. I’ve tried to forget him since then.” 

Judy put her hand on Nick’s that was on the toy carrot. “Nick…” she said quietly. Nick put his other hand on hers. 

“I have no idea what he’d want with me now.” Nick said softly. “I can’t even imagine how he got this number to call anyway.” 

“Have you considered at least going to find out?’ Judy asked carefully. At this point the fox and the rabbit were holding hands on the table and the stuff carrot was beside them. 

“I keep going back and forth as to whether or not I really want to.” Nick said. “I feel such anger over how he treated my mother and me…but this odd need…morbid curiosity…to just see what he left us for. Where is he now? What is he even doing? Why couldn’t he have done it with us? And seeing him is the only way to answer my questions…but…I do and I don’t want to.” 

Nick’s closed his eyes. He felt the sting of tears threatening to fall and he didn’t want to cry. He didn’t want to give his father the power to make him cry…not as an adult. He had cried when he was a kit when his father left. Years later he felt guilty over his mother trying to comfort him over his father’s absence. He felt that he made his mother feel like she wasn’t enough, but even then he knew she tried to be both mother and father for him. He was just a kit that missed his daddy and didn’t understand. He swallowed down his tears. 

“Can I say something?’ Judy asked. 

“Yes.” Nick said still holding tight to his wife. 

“You don’t have to continue seeing him if it doesn’t work out.” She said. “The worst that can happen is you fight…maybe punch him in the face…” Nick snorted at that. “And you leave it at that. The best that can happen is that you forgive him…at least try to have him in your life again…and our daughter may get to know her grandfather.” She added the last part cautiously. 

Nick let go of her hand and picked up at the carrot again. He looked down at it and caressed it. He looked up at Judy who was watching him gingerly. “Whatever you want is how it will be. If you want to see him I’ll help you through it. If you don’t…we don’t have to talk about it ever again. Don’t make a decision right now.”

Nick nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll think about it.” 

Judy also nodded. He put her hand on his wrist and rubbed it with her thumb. “Okay.” She said. “I’m going to take a shower.” She said after a few moments. She got up from the seat and kissed Nick on the head before she left. 

Nick sat there in silence numb to any emotion or thought. He wasn’t sure what he wanted, but wasn’t allowing himself to feel anything to make a decision either way. He was broken from his statue form when he heard Judy’s phone go off. Nick got up and answered it while he sat back down at the table. 

“She’s in the shower.” He said to his in-laws when he saw the slight surprise on their faces to see him instead of Judy. 

“That’s fine. We wanted to talk to you both anyway.” Bonnie said. “You can just relay the message to her.” 

“We know the baby is due in a couple of weeks and we wanted to know if we could come down and visit.” Stu said, but added quickly. “We’d stay in a hotel as to not intrude too much.” 

“Even though I’m sure Judy doesn’t need any help, I think I’d like to come and help out anyway for a few days. Taking care of a sister or brother is one thing, but taking care of your kit all on your own is totally another.” Bonnie said. “You guys don’t have the benefit of living in a house with a large family who’d allow you to have breaks every once in a while.”

Nick could hear the sadness in his mother in-laws voice. They wished Judy and him lived closer or in Bunny Burrow so they could see them more often. “We just want to ask, but again. You guys feel free to tell us that we’re being too interfering.” Bonnie said. 

“I don’t see it as interfering too much.” Nick said. He couldn’t see them coming down all the time leaving the farm and the market and if they did come down it would help him out more than he’d like to admit. “I’ll definitely ask Judy what she thinks.” 

“Nick.” He heard Bonnie’s voice sing circumspectly. “Are you okay, honey?” 

There was no use in hiding it. He found that these parents were too skilled to actually get away with hiding anything with. “Something happened today that made me realize why I’ve been acting so insane.” He described his nervous and joyful state and his back and forth of emotions in all directions. Always wanting the little bunny girl, but fearing messing it up.

“That’s normal first time father jitters.” Stu laughed. “You’ll be fine.” 

“You’re a sweetheart, Nick.” Bonnie said. “You’ll be a sweet dad.” 

“Thank you.” Nick felt his face heat up with embarrassment. 

“What is actually bothering you, son?” Stu asked. 

Nick froze a little at being called ‘son.’ “My dad called today.” He said simply. The bunny couple looked at each other. He could see the surprised look on their faces. They were not expecting that. 

“How are you feeling?” Bonnie recovered first. 

“A little angry…a little sad.” Nick said. “He wants to see me and I’m not sure I want to see him to be honest. This is why I’m so nervous about being a father. His absence greatly affected me growing up, and…I’m not going to leave Judy and our daughter…I just don’t want to screw up being a father because…I don’t know how to be one. I don’t want to hurt her by not being a good dad.” He paused briefly before saying, “Stu, you’ve been more of a father to me than he ever was.”

The male bunny suddenly had an air of pride in his stance. This was a man who had raised and is raising 275 kits and was there for all of them. Even in his discouragement of Judy becoming a police officer he supported her in the end anyway. He supported her when she wanted to marry Nick. He even became a surrogate father to Nick in a lot of ways from advice to his actions and caring ways towards Nick. Nick grew to respect his father in-law by simply watching him with his kits and working on the farm and teaching Nick to also work on the farm as well as other things. That is what a father should be. Not this stranger that calls when his son is full grown and about to have his own kit. 

“Nick,” Stu started. “Your father’s actions…do not dictate yours. I’ve seen you help take care of Judy’s brothers and sisters and even some of the neighborhood kits when you’re down here…while you go about it anxiously…you’ve always done a fine job. You won’t screw up this little girl’s life because you clearly care. However…just don’t go too over board an smother her.” 

“Stu!” Bonnie scolded. 

“No, its fine, Bonnie.” Nick said. “It can go to one extreme to the next. So, I’m glad he brought it up.” Nick picked up the carrot again. “Thank you, Stu. For everything.”

“No problem, Nicky.” The male rabbit smiled at his son in-law. “You just hang in there. It’ll be great. You’ll see. You’ll love being a father and you’ll be good at it.”

Nick nodded. “Yeah. I hope so.” 

“No, you will.” Stu corrected him. 

Nick smiled and rolled his eyes. “Yes, dad.” He said in jest. This made both the bunnies smile. 

“Okay. Tell Judy what we’re thinking about and get back to us as soon as you guys can either way.” Bonnie said. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything. Even if it is just to talk.” She said looking at Nick concerned.

Both rabbits had told him multiple times that he can call them. They did everything within their power to make him feel a part of the family and treat him no different from their bunny in-laws. It made Nick feel good and he was grateful that they seemed to love him despite him not being a bunny. While his being a fox did create some apprehension at first, the family grew to accept him as Judy’s husband and slowly over time it didn’t seem to matter anymore. Sometimes though, when he was feeling especially self-conscious they didn’t seem to have a problem reminding him that they gave him an equal amount of love and support as they did their kits and other in-laws. 

Nick nodded. “I won’t…I will call…we will call if we need anything.” He stammered. “Even if it is just to talk.” He added.

They smiled and wished him luck and good night. They included in their final farewell to tell Judy they loved her and that they loved him too. Nick hung up the phone only feeling slightly better than he had before the phone call. He was still faced with making the decision whether or not to see his own dad. The red fox sighed before getting up from the table and getting ready for bed taking the stuff carrot with him.


End file.
